The present invention relates to a bag holder and, particularly, a container, a holder, and an assembly of a thin, flexible, collapsible plastic trash bag within a rigid wastepaper basket or the like.
In many households, a rectangular plastic or metal basket or can is used in the kitchen or elsewhere, to hold refuse and trash, and in the past that container has usually been lined with a discarded flat-bottom, self-standing paper sack in which the purchases had been brought home from the grocery store. More recently commercially-available plastic trash-can liners have been made and sold by such companies as Presto, Exxon, Union Carbide, Mobil and others. However, these are large bags which depend for support by being folded over the top edge of the basket or can and, though satisfactory for outdoor use, are unsatisfactory when used indoors. After the bag is filled, it is removed from the plastic container and discarded with the trash.
It would appear that nothing could be simpler, until, in more recent times, the flat-bottom, free-standing paper sack has been replaced by the less expensive, thin-gauge plastic handle-bag, which is less bulky, less expensive and, in many cases, stronger than the paper bag.
This bag is generally hung by the handles in a stand or bracket in a grocery store, while the purchases are placed therein, and the bag (and contents) then carried away from the store with the customer carrying it by the self-formed handles in the plastic bag.
Such a container is easier to carry than a paper sack filled with heavy cans, fruits, vegetables, and the like, but it has one disadvantage. Because of its thin, flexible nature, it collapses and is not free-standing and, therefore, must be hung or otherwise supported by the handles if it is to be re-used.
The present invention relates to a bracket-arrangement which can be fitted easily to the wide variety of household containers presently in use throughout the nation, and it also has the advantage of being easily and inexpensively provided by the container manufacturer of "original equipment" and either installed at the factory by the manufacturer or subsequently installed by the purchaser of the container.
Others have tried to solve the problem, and I refer particularly to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,332,361; 4,418,835; and 4,558,800.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,835 issued to Watts on Dec. 6, 1983 shows a wire-like arrangement which can be fitted to a household trash container, but such device must be mechanically fastened by screws to the thin inner wall of the container, and may easily be rendered unusable if the seams pull out of the side wall.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,800 issued to Isgar on Dec. 17, 1985, another method of solving the problem was approached, but in this case an expensive, flat side-wall or plate of the attachments must be secured to the inner sidewall of the container with costly adhesive devices.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,361 issued to McClellum on June 1, 1982, the inventor attempted to solve the problem by screwing a portion of the wire bracket to a rigid support and then providing wire sprung-clamps which pivot on the bracket to hold the bag-handles in place. Such arrangement is similarly more expensive than is justified for the problem to be solved.